03363cam a22003253u 4500 77027 UtSlPG 20260610134802.0 m cr n 260607r20251856utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d UtSlPG en iso639-1 KD Bodichon, Barbara Leigh Smith, 1827-1891 A brief summary in plain language of the most important laws concerning women Second edition, revised with additions Salt Lake City, UT : Project Gutenberg, 2025 1 online resource : multiple file formats text txt rdacontent computer c rdamedia online resource cr rdacarrier Release date is 2025-10-11 Carla Foust, Charlene Taylor and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) "A brief summary in plain language of the most important laws concerning women…" by Barbara Leigh Smith is a legal pamphlet and reformist tract written in the Victorian era. It explains the civil and property status of women in Britain, especially under marriage, and argues for legal reform to secure women’s separate rights. The likely topic of the book is the effect of English law on women’s property, marriage, divorce, custody, and civic standing. The work first outlines the position of unmarried women, who can own property and pay taxes but lack political franchise, and explains inheritance rules that favor male heirs in real property. It then details marriage law, including prohibited degrees, civil and ecclesiastical forms, and Scottish irregular marriages, before setting out coverture: a wife’s legal identity merges with her husband’s, who controls her person, earnings, and personal property; her contracts and lawsuits must run through him; and he holds strong rights over her real estate during cohabitation. Equity offers limited relief through settlements for a wife’s separate use, but custody of children rests with the father, and divorce is costly and largely a privilege of the rich; only separation is commonly obtainable, while full dissolution requires parliamentary action. The pamphlet summarizes widows’ rights (paraphernalia, dower or jointure, a share in personalty if intestate), women’s capacities as agents, trustees, or executors (often constrained by marriage), and the harsh treatment of illegitimate children and their mothers under maintenance and inheritance rules. In its concluding remarks, it criticizes over-legislation and the injustice of husbands’ control of wives’ earnings—especially harmful to working-class families—surveys fairer practices abroad, and presents a reform program: allowing married women to hold separate property, make contracts and wills, adjust spousal liabilities, and establish equal succession rights, urging public petition to secure these changes. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Originally published: London: Holyoake & Co., 1856 Women -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- Great Britain https://archive.org/details/briefsummaryinpl00smit/page/n5/mode/2up https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77027 117751 117751